The previous coach who had showed some promise at first, but then flushed the team down the toilet, has been replaced by someone who did even worse. His last season was even worse than his first. The team had lost the last 5 rivalry games in a row. Frankly, that last good streak of winning teams seems more like an exception to a negative trend than a reason for hope.

What hope for the future is there? Should we even be playing FBS ball? There’s NO WAY we play for a Rose Bowl anytime in the foreseeable future.

Welcome to the fans of Stanford in 2006.

OK, sorry to pull that stunt on everyone…

But I was trying to find a way to show that there is hope out there. So, let’s go take a look at 2006 for a minute:

Cal and USC shared the Pac-12 title that year and it looked like these two teams were going to be battling for the conference title every year.

Washington was the next worst team to Stanford.

Oregon was showing signs of collapse after their strong run in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

Arizona State and UCLA were perpetual underachievers.

Yes, the conference was a very, very, VERY different place than it is right now. Anyone who had predicted that Stanford would be the best team in the conference would be laughed at in 2006. Anyone who said USC was about to falter big-time would be ridiculed, particularly if it was suggested that ASU and UCLA were the ones to displace them in their yet-to-exist division. Heck, even that Oregon was going to be a powerhouse program would be met with a raised eyebrow from many.

Point being, the future is uncertain. Things change in VERY unpredictable ways and surprisingly quickly. Is Dykes the guy to take us to the promised land? It’s reasonable to argue perhaps not. But neither was Walt Harris for Stanford. At the same time, Jim Harbaugh didn’t exactly light up the field his first 3 years, going a combined 9-15 his first two seasons. Dykes might yet surprise us.

Or not… frankly it doesn’t matter (in regards to the point I’m trying to make). What matters is that this is no time to despair. If in 15 years we’re still turning out horrible teams and regularly uncompetitive games, then it might be time to talk. But even Duke has managed to turn it around after having had only ONE winning season since 1990.

And Cal’s not even in that boat. Cal has had a comparatively large amount of recent success.

So, grind away on how unhappy you are with Dykes. Talk about how horrible this team was. Moan and complain about how you hate the scheme on offense. Rip Buh to shreds for his ridiculously bad defense.

But please don’t despair. We aren’t doomed to what we saw on the field this year, forever.

8 Responses to “
A look at a time not far from now ”

The problem with this Stanford analogy is . . .
1) Seven years is a long time
2) We are in year one of our Walt Harris tenure, not the last. We’ll have to see this Dykes experiment through at least two more years, before we start a new rebuild. So add another 2 years to the process
3) The conference is far more competitive than it was in 2006, maybe ever. It’s no longer SC and the rest of the field. SC may come back to earth, but Oregon and Stanford aren’t going anywhere. Mora awakened a sleeping giant at UCLA. And Washington now looks like it will move upwards with Petersen. ASU will always be variable. But our hill is considerably steeper. But, hey, we have these shiny new facilities which are gonna make us a powerhouse, right? (sigh)

You’re first two points are fair enough, but I wasn’t making a short-term argument. It could be Dykes is Walt Harris (or worse).

As for #3, it’s just as likely could be Petersen is the next line line of BSU head coaches who can’t hack it in the Pac, that parity between UCLA and USC will result in neither team being able to dominate the LA recruiting market making both teams softer, and/or that Helfrich slowly erodes what Kelly did at Oregon. It’s very hard to project the future from here.

There is so much money behind Oregon, they can afford to buy the next best coach if Helfrich fails. Any hiccup in their program will be just that, a hiccup. Petersen may not be the next Carroll of the Pac-12, but I have a feeling they will at least be solid. True about SC and UCLA, but so cal is also a recruiting hotbed for us, so it hurts us either way. Hard to predict, yes, but we can agree at least that at this moment our hill is steeper than Stanford’s was in 2006.

I want to like this theory but a few things come to mind. First is that the ‘furd
has a better history of winning than the Cal program has. We had some great years during the Tedford era, a decent year with Mooch, 2 good years with Snyder, and some good teams in the 70s. Other than that this team has been abysmal. As much as it pains me to say it, the Furd has had a more consistent history of winning before that downturn with Teevens and Harris. There was more of an infrastructure of success than we have at Cal.

My second point is that the minute Harbaugh came to the ‘Furd he gave them a sense of momentum and purpose. Sure, it took the team a bit to becoming a winner, but there was positive momentum. They pulled off some unexpected wins, like against USC.

What happened this year was Dykes was like nothing I’ve ever seen. It was negative momentum. The team got worse each and every game. Each loss was a new low in some way. It was truly unprecedented stuff. I want to believe that he will turn it around but nothing this year gave me the sense that it will happen with Dykes in charge. In all likelyhood he’ll be the coach for another 2 years at least. I fear what new lows he’ll bring us to. Doesn’t look like Buh is going anywhere either.

In any case, I hope you are right Ken. I can deal with a mediocre Cal team but being one of the worst teams in college football makes the whole CFB season somewhat sad and depressing. I’m stuck with this team because I could t quit following them if I tried so let’s hope they give us something to smile about next year.

As a 15 year season ticket holder (NOT an alum) I am gone. Cal seems to be the most fan un-friendly team there is.

From the play on the field to the $321 million dollar stadium (and still porta potties on the east side), to the massive debt, to the AT&T year to the hirings, to the reshuffleing of the seats to the moving of the Oregon game 2014, to the naming of Kabbam field, etc…..

You know I loved CAL. I no longer do. However I do love college football…. BUT I will not go to Stanford game.

So I have decided to throw a little bleach in the wash and give my clothes a slightly lighter shade of blue….

I am heading south to San Jose and looking forward to seeing a competitive Spartan squad on the field. Nice little stadium, decent team, a school that doesn’t take its fans for granted, OK conference, lower ticket prices, lower parking prices the list goes on…….. If only Sanday understood any of the above.

Yeah, it really has gone downhill as a family event, Louis. I’ve got a bit more attachment to the University than you seem to have, so I’ll be sticking it out. But I have a hard time blaming those who aren’t otherwise committed to following Cal for looking for other alternatives.